Marii, Daughter of the Knife
by desert's mirage
Summary: The Tale of Marii, the daughter of the late Alia Atreides and the fears of Abomination that drive her to confront the family she barely knows. Please Review,I need to decide whether or not to keep this one.


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Authors Notes: Well...here it is...my insane attempt to write something serious! Don't worry, I'll still continue on my parody of the '84 Dune movie(if you haven't read it, please do so and review!) among other things, but I just had to try to do something serious, and I always did think that Alia should have had a daughter...

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"Who is she?"

The question was logical enough, and yet not so. For this 'she' was a small girl standing in an antechamber below, her Fremen blue eyes focused on the tiles below here. And yet it was not so, for this girl claimed to be a person who could not possibly exist.

"She claims to be the daughter of St. Alia of the Knife." the guard replied, his gaze fixed on the floor.

Stilgar felt his face contort into an expression of utter disbelief. _So the truth is out. But Alia'a daughter? She had none... _"She claims? So it has not been confirmed.?"

"No, I was told to come to you first and seek your council." 

_And whatever can I offer? _"My only counsel is to notify the Lady Jessica, bring her down here. She will know for certain what to do." As he said this, he looked down through the spy hole at the girl below. She did bear a resemblance to Alia, yet, she would not mark the first to come claiming to be a daughter of Alia's. But if it were true...._Another Atreides...I wonder where in Leto's plans she will fit in..._

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The tiled floor told a story. It was one of many tile pictures, Marii knew, scattered about Muad'Dib 's 'sietch above the sand' depicting his victory over Shaddam IV. But this picture, unlike many of the others, bore the picture of a small girl in a black aba robe watching the goings on with an interest seeming to exceed what one would expect of her few years. _'It was an interesting scene..._' a voice inside her said, and suddenly the veil of time opened and she saw through the eyes of the girl in the aba robe. The vision, if it can be called such, pulled her in further and further, spiraling through time, trying to trap her behind the veil. This was not the first time something of this nature had happened, but never had it been one of Alia's memories which had tried to trap her, and this caught her off guard. Trying to free herself from the web of time, she stepped back, as far away as she could from the main part of the tiled floor, and concentrated on one of her own personal memories. After a bit, it seemed to work, and the small girl let out a small sigh of relief. _The Emperor and his sister probe their memories at will, why can I not do the same? _was a thought which quickly passed her mind, and yet deep down she knew the answer already. Fear. Fear of what her mother had become. Fear of what she too could become...

"Child?" the words of a Fremen guard, standing at the now open door way brought Marii out of her thoughts. She shifted her head slowly to face him, thankful for the darkness pouring in through a large window nearby which blanketed her face in shadow.

"You are to be presented to the Lady Jessica to be tested." the guard continued before turning back out through the door again, obviously expecting Marii to follow.

Tested...what an odd way of putting it...she thought as she nodded slightly and followed, flinching inwardly as she crossed the tiled floor and the picture of Alia, which seemed in this half light to be staring not at the battle raging between Paul and Fyed-Rautha, but up at her.

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The Lady Jessica had been dreaming troubled dreams when she was lightly awoken. It was a dream that often came to her these days, a replay of her daughter's final moments...struggling with the baron and finally falling...falling...

"M'lady?" the soft voice pulled Jessica far from dream, and back to the stillness of her bedchamber. 

"M'lady," the voice repeated. As her awareness heightened , Jessica recognized the voice as that of one of her Fremen attendants, "I am sorry to wake you, but there is a matter which requires 'counsel only you can give', or so I was told by Naib Stilgar."

"Alright," she said, sitting up slowly, "Go and tell them I shall be there in one quarter of an hour." The attendant nodded her head respectfully before turning to leave.

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Now what could it be that needs my counsel so that it cannot wait 'til morning...she wondered as she hastily dressed.

Fifteen minutes later, Jessica found herself being quickly lead down the hall and into a small receiving room. In it stood a few Fremen guards talking in hushed tones to Stilgar and a small girl whose back was to the door. 

"May I ask what has called me out at this late hour?" Jessica asked as soon as the door was closed firmly behind her. The sound of her voice caught the attention of the girl, and she quickly turned around and smiled a too familiar smile. _Alia!_ Jessica cried inwardly, her hand flying to her mouth. _But no...it can't be her _ she thought half chiding herself as she began to scan the girl in the ways of the Bene Gesserit. _Alia is dead. I saw her fall. A ghola? No...she seems too her own person._ _And the look she holds as she stares back at me. That is not Alia... _Her thoughts preceded no further, as she realized that Stilgar was talking to her. 

"....She was found just outside the Palace with another Fremen who soon disappeared, and there has been no sign of him sin-"

"Who is she Stil?" Jessica asked, interrupting him.

"She claims to be a child of your daughter, Alia." 

"I do not claim, I tell." the little girl said, her voice much as Alia's had been once which caused another heart wrenching moment for Jessica; but this time she was prepared and managed to will her expression into calmness.

"Alright then, but what have you to prove this declaration of yours?" she asked, her gaze fixed on the girl.

"I have her memories." the girl answered quickly, meeting Jessica's gaze.

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A pre-born, like Alia. I suppose that was to be expected....Abomination? she thought, her Bene Gesserir teachings bringing the last word, unbidden, into her thoughts.

"No, I am not possessed. And I am not Abomination." the girl said. This bothered Jessica, then she remembered _It is not just Alia's memories she carries with her....but mine and all those who came before myself and my Leto. _"But my mother was. So I am afraid, which is why I am here."

The guards and Stilgar seemed to have faded into the background now for Jessica. All that remained was herself and her...granddaughter. 

"What is your name, child? and....who is your father?" she asked softly. It was a question that couldn't be avoided. She had heard many rumors of her daughter's unfaithfulness to her husband in late years, a thing much blamed on her possession. 

"Worry not, grandmother, My father was Duncan Idaho, though I barely knew him." 

the girl replied, almost regretfully. _Ahh, so she does not probe his memories. Perhaps not even Alia's _Jessica thought, "And I am called Marii by all, and daughter of the knife by the Fremen who I stayed with in the South."

_Dauhghter of the Knife...Alia of the knife...it all fits...and yet I wonder... _Jessica thought, putting all her powers in the art of Truthsaying against the girl-Marii's last words. But she could find no fault in them. _She speaks the truth _the Lady Jessica thought _and yet she should be tested by Leto...he claims to be able to read truth in every movement, and she will have to meet him anyway..._ She shook her thoughts away when she saw that the girl's blue Fremen eyes staring up at her, as though expecting to say more. A part of Jessica wanted to get down and hug the girl, this child of her daughter, to allow herself to cry tears of joy, expending once precious water. And yet another part, the Bene Gesserit part, told her to stay as she was, for one could never been sure with the pre-born. As much as it pained her to realize it, that part of her that was Bene Gesserit won...and she stayed as she was. 

"Marii, it is late and I'm sure your tired." she turned now to the back of the room where a few guards still lingered, despite the fact that Stilgar had long since left the room. "You will find her a place in an unused room, surely there must be one around. And I suppose will go from there in the morning." she turned her gaze once more to Marii, who still stood, looking to Jessica more like Alia by the moment. "Goodnight then....granddaughter." she said in parting, her voice barely audible to anyone save Marii, who nodded understandingly a light smile developing on the child's features, for one phrase was ringing true in Marii's mind: _She believes me!_

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Closing Arguments: OK...so there you have it. The first chapter of my attempt at seriousness. A quick reminder that everything I post is often still under construction and I'll change it in little ways here and there from time to time...

So....did you think it has any potencial? If so, *please* review, all constructive criticism is welcome(as are flames) as well as ideas and other advice. Do you think I should abandon all hope now and just go ahead and kill it as to save you from the pain of looking at it on the Dune fanfic board? So TELL me! The bottom line of all this rambling is one word: REVIEW!!!!!! (....please?)


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